Thursday new Montana head coach Travis DeCuire announced his coaching staff for the 2014-15 season, and among the three assistants is one who has extensive head coaching experience. Ken Bone, who spent the last five seasons as the head coach at Washington State, has joined the staff as associate head coach with Chris Cobb and Jono Metzger-Jones being named assistants.

Metzger-Jones was a member of Wayne Tinkle’s staff last season, remaining in Missoula following Tinkle’s departure for Oregon State.

In touting the addition of Bone to his staff, DeCuire noted Bone’s head coaching experience as something he can lean on given the fact that this will be his first head coaching job at the Division I level. Prior to leading the Washington State program, Bone spent four seasons at Portland State so he’s also familiar with most of the programs in the Big Sky.

“I thought for me and the first time as a head coach, it’s important to have someone on the bench and in the office that had experience with making decisions, and also having a calm mind to weather the storm in big, pressure games,” DeCuire said in the release. “For me it’s important to have someone like Ken who is very experienced on the bench.”

Montana finished the 2013-14 season with an overall record of 17-13, going 12-8 in Big Sky play. The Grizzlies will need to account for the departure of Kareem Jamar, who led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists in his senior season. Montana also lost guard Keron DeShields, who decided to transfer, leaving Jordan Gregory (13.8 ppg) and Mike Weisner (8.1 ppg) as the team’s leading returning scorers.